Railboad tie



1 E. LANGFORD, JR- RAILROAD TIE. APPU CATION FILED OCT. 25.192].

1,431,469. Patented Oct. 10; 1922.

. v lVl/E/V'OR 15 v w r Y ATTORA/E s Patented Oct. 10, 1922. i

v UNITED STAT S:

.TEREMIAH E. LANGFOEID, .13., or SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

' 1,431,469 PATENT lorries;

RAILROAD TIE.

I Application filed October 25, 1921. Serial No. 510,382.

To-aZZ whom it may concern: v

Be itlrnown thatl, JEREMIAH E. LANG- FORD, Jr-., a citizen, of the United States, residing'at Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented a certain new and useful Rail-road Tie, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new railroad tie, and more specifically to ties of simple construction and low, cost. y

The invention has as an object theconstruction of a tieformed of metal which may be held in place without the use of spikes, tie plates, rail braces, or rail anchorsalt has also as an object the construction of a tie which will not have a tendency to centerbinding, that is, the resting of the tie on its bedonly atits central portion sothat the tie would pushdown into the bed. A further object is to construct a. tie having a suitable flexibility not easily. obtainable in a straight channel tie. A further object is the provision of such a tiehaving means for securing it in place on the rail in a simple manner. 1A still further object is the combination ofa tie as above described with the rails and gripping plates so that they will be secured together.

The invention accordingly broadlyrelates to, a tie of channel shape having recesses for the rails and having its sidesconstricted near the middle. More specifically, it relates to such a tie having its bottom omitted in its central portion, and having means for securing the rails to the side walls of the tie. The invention is shown in its preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings, in whichv Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tie showing a rail fitted within one side thereof.

Fig. 2 is another perspective view show? ing the tie with its'recesses and strengthen ing plates, and wedges in position and partially withdrawn from the recess.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of a rail and wedge showing a pin for holding the wedge to the rail, and r r Fig. 4; is a perspective of a wedge which has been split; along'its edge in order to prevent its withdrawal.

In the drawings,.a tie preferably made of metal is shown whose side walls 1 slope at their ends as shown at 2, and are constricted in their central portion at 3 where they are preferably suitably fastened together as by welding, bolting, or by similar means. These sides walls have recesses as shown at 4 into which the rails fit, and at the sides of these recesses are strengthening plates 5 which may be integral with the side walls Connecting these plates 5 are further strengthening plates 6 parallel with the rails which further serve to. strengthen the structure at the point'of greatest pressure. The tie is provided with a bottom "part 7,. butnearthe central portion of the.

tie this bottom is omitted asat 8 for the purpose of preventing center-binding. The constriction of the side walls serves to make the center, of thetie so strong that it will not bend or curve out of shape. A further'advantage of the opening 8 is to allow the gravel'or other filling material to connect directly with the'road' beda'nd thus hold the tie directly in place. I a f r The recesses 4; above described are so shaped that wedges'or holding plates 9 may be inserted or driven in between the rails and the walls of the recesses for the purpose of holding the rails securely in place. These parts 9 are wedge-shaped, that is, they taper along their. length so that they may be driven in to secure the wedging action. In the preferred formshown, these wedgesare held in place by dogs 10 which are pivoted-at pivots 1 1, the dogs rotating on these pivots and falling into recesses 12 cut in theupper parts of the wedges whereby the latter are securely held in place against endwisemovement parallel to the rails.

Other methods may be employed for holding these wedges in place. For example, the method of Fig. 3 may be employed. In said figure the rail 13 is shown with the wedge 9 in place and the pin 14 inserted in a slot 15 extendin through the wedge and base of the rail. i nother method is to split thesmaller end of the wedge 9 along a line such as 16 and then bend back the portions 17 and 18 so as to prevent the pulling out of recesses for the rails and having no bottomand laid on the rail bed without particular need of fastening means. Due to its peculiar construction, it will not Warp out of shape nor cause center-binding, and owing also to its peculiar shape, it will resist side thrust of the roadbed. This tie is. moreover more flexible than in the case of straight channel ties.

As many apparently Widely different embodiments of this invention maybe made without departing from the spirit thereof, it is to be understood that I do not intend to limit myself to the specific embodiment thereof, except as indicated in the appended claims. i a

I claim f 1. A channel shaped railroad tie having in its middle portion, the sides beingconstricted and secured together near the middle portion of the tie.

21A channel-shaped railroad tie hav' ing recesses for the rails and having'its sides pinched together at'their middle portions, the bottom of the tie being cutout adjacent said constricted portions.

3. A channel-shaped railroad tie having recesses for the rails, reinforcing plates adjacent said recesses, and having no bottom in its middle portion, the sides being constricted and pinched together at their'middle portion.

4:. A channel-shaped railroad tie having recesses for the rails and having no bottom in its middle portion, the sides of the tie being constricted and secured together near their middle portion, and reinforcing means comprising plates adjacent the sides around said recesses and plates parallel with the rails for reinforcing the tie.

5. A channel-shaped railroadtie having recesses for the rails and having its sides constricted near the middle, and a dogjournaled near one of said recesses so that it can be swung into said recess.

6. A channelshaped railroad tie having recesses for the rails and having no bottom in its central portion, the sides being constricted near the middle portion, and a dog j ournaled near one of said recesses so that it can be swung into said recess.

7. A channel-shaped railroad tie having recesses for the rails and-having no bottom in its middle portion, the'sides being pinched together and secured at their middle portion, and a dog journaled near one of said recesses so that it can be swung'into said recess.

'8. The combination of a' channel-s'haped railroad tie having recesses, rails in said recesses, gripping plates in the recesses be tween the latter and the rails, andmeans for securing said gripping plates in'place comprising a dog positioned to be inserted into a slot in the plate.

9. In combination, a channel-shaped rail road tie having its sides constricted and no bottom in its middle portion, rails positioned in recesses in said tie, gripping plates in the recesses between the latter and the rails, and means for securing said gripping JEREMIAH E. LANGFORD, JR. v 

